The Black Loner
by CiemnyCien98
Summary: After Faolan had led his strange pack to the Distant Blue, winter had finally arrived. A treacherous blizzard is occurring in the Beyond and there lays only a she-pup. An owl (the Rogue Smith of the Western Kingdoms) finds her and takes her as his own. For months, both the pup and owl bonded together. Only there is something wrong in between the Beyond and Ga'hoole from the storm.
1. The Beginning

On the boisterous winds of winter, a black wolf pup was mewling for its mother. It was in the middle of nowhere and she didn't know where her pack went. The trees were screeching when the currents tried to pull them down. The little pup was struggling to get to safety in the trees, but the blizzard held her back.  
In her short lifetime, the pup knew nothing of death and was in peril of being trapped in the snowy blanket.

* * *

Meanwhile a Snowy owl, Lent was soaring up above the sky. He held a firm grip on his bucket with his talons. For a Rogue Smith, like himself, he was in search for coals. The Snowy was busier than a bumble bee, when it came to smithing. He looked upon him to peer at the Golden Talons. Lent was keen to only following the last star of the Golden Talons. When he was just an owlet, his mum taught him the technique that some Smiths find to the coals. One of Lent's favorite stories were of Liez of Kiel or Ezylryb. The whisker Screech Owl was a Black Smith, so Lent got the idea of being one.  
While he was flying below the clouds, he heard a distant mewling. He searched and found a black speck in the blusterous white. At first, he thought it might be a coal, but as he flew closer it was not a coal. Lent exclaimed," What in the name of Glaux! What type of beast are you?"  
But only came a sharp howl. The Snowy owl knew nothing of these animals. He tried to search for any stories of these creatures. "Ah, the story of Noryc." thought Lent," And the Ice march! Great Glaux , I found a wolf!"  
Lent thought for a minute as he was flying low to the ground. The black little wolf, was trapped in the snow. It's nose was still sticking out, so it could breathe.  
The Snowy owl spread his wings and brushed the snow off, until there was the wolf's head. The little wolf was cowering meekly and tried best to dunk its head. Lent gently murmured," Hush, little one. I might not be a wolf mum, but I will take care of you. You will need to come toward me."  
The black wolf immediately obeyed the owl and dug its little paws through. Both wolf and owl managed to work together. The little wolf got out of the pile of snow.


	2. Found!

The little pup looked up at the Snowy owl. Lent realized that she had the most beautiful eyes as an emerald. He wondered why he only knew wolves to be mangy creatures but this owlet looked remarkably handsome like constellation. Lent wilfed a little bit and chuckled at the thought of calling this little wolf an owlet. The little black wolf crawled to the owl and curled up against his talons.  
Lent brushed gently with his white wing and nudged her with his beak like a mother. What would the owls think if they saw him with a wolf!

* * *

The pup looked thoughtfully at this weird wolf. She didn't know exactly why this wolf was all white and had no muzzle. Plus his voice was more unique than that of a wolf. Didn't this strange wolf have a marrow? She looked closely at the features of this wolf. The paws, she curled up on were more sharper. His white fur was spread out like a pheasant's. The stranger had no front claws and stood up right.  
The more closer she got, the more she realized he was not a wolf, but something else. The stranger was kind when he spoke to her. The pup wished he was a wolf so she could get away from the blizzard. She asked," Um...," The stranger's fur began to close in and made him look as if he were a tree," Who and what are you? Just curious."  
The stranger's fur became normal again and replied," I am an Rogue Smith owl, miss. The name's Lent." There was a glint in his yellow eyes," And by Glaux! I never knew such a young owlet, like you, can talk!"  
The pup whined," I want to get out of here, Lent! It's really t-terr-ifying."  
"Hmm...", pondered Lent," Follow every detail I will tell you, understand?" The pup nodded and waited for an order.  
" Step back a few lengths", began the owl, the pup obediently pace back a few steps," Now when we prepare for lift off, I need you to not squirm. It will be more hard on me if you did it." The pup nodded.  
Lent picked up his bucket with the sharp muzzle and lifted himself of the ground. His talons were outstretched and the pup closed her eyes, until the claws were around her body. The owl flew more and more higher and looked at the pup," The sooner we get to the forge, the better I start searching for coals" Lent turned his head completely around," Are you ok there, little one?"  
The black pup felt nauseous and nodded. She looked around at her surroundings and saw specks of light. Lent saw her peeking up at the specks and said," They are stars that form constellations when it is twix time." The owl had two stars in his eyes," The constellation we are heading to is the Great Talons. We owls, follow the stars to find our way to home or where coals are kept."  
The pup looked longly at the one constellation "Great Talons". It looked like the shape of an owl and wondered if there were any histories of owls," Lent, are there any stories or histories of the owls?" The owl smiled," Yes, there are many stories of us and the constellations as well."  
The pup watched as they soared through the sky and the owl looked up at the Great Talons constellation and explained," The Glaumora is up above the Great Talons." The pup gave him a questioning stare," Alright, the Glaumora is the heavens, but underneath the ground and Glaumora is..." He looked troubled," Is hagsmire." The pup still was troubled of what hagsmire is," Hagsmire...is hell and it's not the safest place for an innocent owl to die."  
The pup looked at him thoughtfully of why he was so hesitant on the heaven or hell. Was he remembering death of another owl?

* * *

Lent was so caught up in the stories of his grandparents' death. He was not born yet when the king and queen before Nyroc still ruled the Great Tree. Boron had welcomed Soren back then and made him a guardian. Eyzlryb had helped so many times with Soren and Boron. Lent shook his head as if to shake off the memory of his grandfather. It was time for tween time to begin and he knew that he must get back to his forge.  
He looked at the Great Talons's edge point. The owl carefully gripped the body of the little wolf. The wings began to spread firmly across the wind. Lent knew very well that his hollow would be safe enough for both of them, during the blizzard.  
The Snowy locked his wings in and soared down to the forge. The snow hit his face and the wolf kept still. The bucket in his beak was rattling, but he still kept watch for his hollow. Suddenly a tree appeared and Lent spread his wings out against the turbulence. With one talon on the wolf, he stretched the other one out as if he were catching prey.  
Tween time suddenly arrived, he flapped his wings lightly enough to land on the branch, right outside of his hollow. He placed the wolf owlet down and she wagged her tail joyfully," That was awesome! I never had so much fun and horror in my life! I hope you enjoyed it, da!" Suddenly the owl wilfed and the wolf just went on playing.  
"Little one," Lent sighed," I think I shall give you a name." The wolf gasped excitedly and he began," I shall name you Stella, a constellation. I have found you by a constellation."

* * *

The little black wolf, now named Stella gasped," Found!" She raced through the forge with stamina. Lent chuckled," You're going to wear yourself out. Save some of your energy, when the First Black comes, Stella."  
The pup looked rambunctiously at him and asked," Why waste time? It's a glorious morning and a-" Lent flew to his branch.


	3. The Mysterious Sound

Lent yawned," Stella, tween time has just arrived, so we shall both sleep."  
"Aww!" whined Stella," I wanted to explore!" The pup slipped and got up drowsily. The Snowy owl gave her a hard stare with a strange glint in his eyes. Stella sighed," Okay, I'll sleep." She yawned and clawed her way to where Lent was on his branch. She snugged closely up to his talons and curled up. In the middle of the day, she was woken up by a strange hooting sound. What in the name of Glaux, is that noise coming from? She was about to paw her adopted father awake, but she knew she would get in trouble.  
Stella needed to investigate this ongoing hoot. She pricked her ears and clambered down on the ground of the forge. The silent hooting quivered when she was close beside Lent.  
In the daylight of tween time, Stella dropped to the ground of the forge and sniffed slightly with her ears pricked. The noise was somewhere! But where? She pondered of why this noise could go on. The black pup waddled to the branch, where Lent was sleeping. Looking up with wonder, there was a quiver in the owl's throat.  
Giggling, she stepped a little bit back and tested her weight. Stella set her green fluorescent gaze on Lent and steadied her tail. Once she was fully ready, the pup dashed like a thrash of lightning and for a heartbeat she leaped high and landed on the Rogue Smith. Surprised, Lent fell backwards and wilfed. Stella laughed heartedly and bounded over him, than licked his beak. Lent's feathers had returned to normal shape and grunted," Well, mind if you telling me why you had to wake me up?"  
The pup pawed the ground nervously and replied," Well...um-" Stella looked at him with guilt," I... woke you up because..."  
" Well go on, then." Lent sounded irritated, Stella breathed in and out and quickly said," I heard a strange sound coming from you!"

Astonished, Lent knew she could have heard the hoots, he makes. So when Stella was mumbling phrases, he explained," You might have been new with this, but it is an owl's sound called a hoot." The pup looked amazed at Lent and asked," So it was a hoot? Wow! I never heard it that well before. It is so magnificent and interesting!"  
Lent took that as a compliment, but it seemed odd for someone to call it interesting. So the owl went to his table where his tools were. He turned his head halfway around, if the sun had dropped. The sun was close among the trees, as if it would burn them. The pup was sitting right beside him and he swirled his head another halfway.  
Stella looked like she was going to yarp a pellet. He chuckled and Stella's eyes glared at him," It's not funny! I feel sick when you do that." Then she asked," How do you do that?" Lent explained," Owls have an extra bone in their necks. So it is pretty common for all owls alike."  
Setting his tool down and getting an igniter, the Snowy went to his kilning area of the forge, while he was humming. Stella followed him and Lent warned," Stay away from the kiln, it can burn your fuzzy tufts up." The pup held back.


	4. Fire

Setting his tool down and getting an igniter, the Snowy went to his kilning area of the forge, while he was humming. Stella followed him and Lent warned," Stay away from the kiln, it can burn your fuzzy tufts up." The pup held back and whimpered, with her tail tucked in.  
Lent shook his head and continued with his work. First he had to get the igniter on, which he used with his talons. Once he had a flame, he placed the twigs on the flame. Lent quickly placed stones on each side of his newly made kiln. Making sure the fire was stable, he got his tongs and stone. The Snowy owl placed the stone carefully with his tongs. Working with the stone, he pricked all sides of it with a hammer. Lent measured width and height of the stone and knew it need more work to be done.

* * *

Stella was taking this all in, for she never seen a career with hot flames. The smell and sound was the most extraordinary senses of them all. There was scent of smoke coming from atop the flames.  
The sound was more crackling than wind itself. There were sparks shooting out like lightning striking back up to the grew accustomed to the senses of the flames in seconds. While Lent was hardening up stone and making it an odd shiny shape. The owl's object looked to be like a shape of owl's head.

* * *

The owl took the newly formed helmet and molted it again in the fire. There was now crimson all over the helmet and Lent let it cool down. Once it was finished, the Snowy owl gently placed it on his tool table. He knew he needed one more touch on this helmet. Lent withdrew from his table and flew out of his forge without telling Stella.  
He scanned the area and found two stones, that could be made into metal. He grabbed them in each of his talons and soared back to his tree.


	5. Metal

Stella clambered over to Lent and asked curiously," What is that for? What is it used for, anyway?" Lent landed lightly on the branch and inquired," Well, suppose that you are a Smith. And imagine making a certain object, than shaping the life force that sustains it. Would you know then, that it is what you are looking for?"

Stella was now puzzled and not quite sure what she could answer it. Lent had never told anything about that smith part. Lent could see confusion in his "owlet's" face. So, he cradled her with his wing withers and said," Stella, it's alright if you don't know that simple question. It's your first time with a Rogue Smith like me."

"What is a Rogue Smith? Please tell me!" Stella asked enthusiastically. " And about that stone you made into a shiny object."

Lent's gizzard churned up with rage and he churred," Enough! It might be alright asking one question, but not too many. You need to learn discipline. And the discipline that I am giving is to learn smithing."  
The pup backed away in fear of his rage and also she was astonished to learn the ways of some owls.

* * *

Lent took his tongs from his table and gave them to Stella. Lent constructed her to use it with her talons. Stella had a puzzled face, so Lent instructed impatiently ," Use your foot! When you grow you might learn to work with it." The owl placed the tongs on the pup's left paw. Stella whined," But that is my bad foot!"  
The Snowy put the stone on the table and Stella stopped. Lent placed his left foot on it and said," This will be the second part of training." The pup looked up at him with a questionable stare. So, Lent continued," Since you know the basics of fire, we will learn to kiln this ordinary stone into metal."

"So that's what the shiny object is called?"

"Yes, young'un. You will later learn the basics of carving a helmet and battle weapons. Now, we will learn to kiln and soften up the stone."

Stella gasped," Soften! But how are you going to get it hardened?"

Lent chuckled," Excellent logic, dear. You will need to use bonks coals for that. An owl before the War of the Ember, used bonks coals for high magnetics, or flecks."  
"The War of The Ember!?" gasped Stella. "I would have loved to be there."

Lent quivered with fear and decided he shouldn't tell her about that second last War. He felt himself begin to wilf. For Glaux's sake, he mustn't wilf in front of her again!

* * *

Stella placed her four on the ovals and curved them till they touched the dew claw. She worked steadily with the stone and placed her other claws to curve the stupendously heavy hammer. Since she was only a pup, she had difficulty bringing up both the tongs and hammer. Lent told her precisely that she needed to carefully place the stone into the fire. He said it is a difficult job at first, but than it gets easier after awhile.

Stella held the tongs in her left paw and turned the stone around to see droplets coming from both tongs and stone. Never in her life, has she done this extraordinary task. After seeing the stone looking a little lumpy, she swiftly put it back on the counter. Lent was right beside her and said," Well done, that was part of your training. Now you must make a battle claw. It's going to not be easy, but you'll get the hang of it."

The pup worked while Lent was watching her as a teacher would. This wolf pup delicately pricked the soften stone into a whole and made three talon shapes. After what seemed like a few minutes, Stella was done shaping the battle claw. The Snowy blinked in amazement to see that the pup had gotten the right length and width of the battle claw right. Stella stared at him until he cleared his throat," You will need now to harden the battle claw up. The battle claw will be finished, when it turns crimson red."

Again, Stella curved her claws around the tongs and picked up the newly shaped battle claw carefully. Second, she put the object in the fire, and watched with tension of the cycle. Once the claw was bright red, she took it out and laid it in front of Lent. The owl's feathers were beginning to wilf, but Lent kept them like that. The battle claw was becoming more shiny, when it was cooling down.

However, Lent was now grateful to find an apprentice of a different specie.


	6. Being an Apprentice

The next night after the last drop of the First Lavender, Stella was continuing her training. She often asked," Da? When you were an owlet, did you ever have a ryb that had you as an apprentice?"  
Lent didn't want to answer the question or even bring back horrible memories. He was not the type of Smith that needed to be reminded of memories. But he remembered once, that there was a raggedy looking wolf called the Sark. By most wolves, the Sark was a witch, because of having a fire, mixing herbs, and containing memories in jars. The stories of a fortress of wolves wanted the Sark to come, but she refused. The Sark wanted to lay on her broken glasses, that once were her memories.  
It was said that the Sark had a remarkable scent, so Lent guessed she had smelled the memories, but he didn't want to have any thoughts of containing memories. When he was just an owlet, he had been cast out of the Great Tree of Ga'hoole.  
The Snowy had no right to be with his ryb, because the flecks caused his teacher's gizzard to mush. He hated being with that Eagle owl, for that was what got him in trouble.

* * *

Meanwhile, Stella was making her second battle claw. Her first battle claw was more easy than this. She just had to do every detail as she did for the first. Since Lent didn't want to answer her question, she was puzzled of the answer. For two nights, Stella had been growing fast, also she was getting the hang of being an apprentice.  
In all her life, she never worked so steadily as her father did. Stella learned the ways of owls through each night, she knew every classification of each constellation. Lent told her many constellations were named of different point of views from each animal. She was amused of seeing the Little Raccoon and the Big Raccoon. Someday, she would see raccoons, and she wanted to see caribou.

Lent had also said that the Great Talons are also called the Great Fangs from a wolf's perspective. The little wolf didn't really like that name. To her, it sounded like drool coming down from the stars. She prefered the Great Talons. One of the constellations were of a narwhal. Lent had told her stories of the Narwhal, because it was the constellation that led a fortress of eight wolves, two bears, two eagles, and an owl.  
When she was working, she tried to distinguish what the owl's name was. Lent had told that the owl was a Rogue Collier and was a friend of a silver wolf named Faolan. Stella had heard about this wolf a little, but she knew that he was said to have three gyre souls.  
He had once been saved by a grizzly, whom he named Thunderheart. He was said that he was huge, and had a low deep voice as a bear.  
In her gizzard, Stella had worked hard as an apprentice. For a month past, the pup became more bigger than her father. You could tell,the owl was certainly amazed at her size!

* * *

One day, Lent said," Stella," The half-grown pup looked down at her father and was about to say something. Her father went on," Since you are growing taller, I need to get you down on the earth. This will be hard for both of us, but I am thinking of meeting you each day." Stella hung her head and said solemnly," Da, I would rather be here than be out there. You know, I had harsh memories from a month ago."


	7. Memories of Earth

Lent told her again," Stella, you need to do other work besides chores in the tree." Stella hung her head and whined," I really like being in here and working with you. Out there I only found despair and white."

The Snowy Owl tried to comfort her, but the wolf held back and looked more gloomy. Lent sighed," I know you feel like not going back on ground. But Stella, can you for once trust Glaux?"

Stella looked at Lent fiercely with her ears back and snarled," I do trust Glaux!" Lent decided not to argue and Stella finally let out a sigh," I'm sorry, Da. It it is okay with going down there. I will do it."

Lent spread his wings out and then folded them on his back. As soon as his stretch was over, he finally said," Stella, you are right on your past. There is this old saying,'You got to put the past behind you and look into the future. Otherwise you are going to look like a coward." Stella hung her head and said softly," I will put the past behind me. I won't be a fool."

* * *

As soon as Stella changed her mind, both of them didn't find it easy getting a half-grown wolf out on the earth. For Lent, he had to bring all his strength for a 97 lb. wolf. Stella stared at the owl with worry and said," Da, I think we might have to do some flight lessons."

Lent gazed at her with shock and screeched," Preposterous! You are not a bird and I don't think a wolf can fly." So Stella's idea was out. The black wolf looked out of the hollow and tilted her head to the left. In her mind, she thought she may be able to jump to the nearest branch. Then suddenly she knew that phrase that owls used for flying practice. It was clearly branching!

While Lent was busy trying to plan of something to fly Stella to the ground, the wolf stealthly slipped out of the hollow and onto the branch. Her paws were clumsy on the bark but she managed to grip hard on the wood with her claws. There came a slight scratching noise and Stella tried to make her best effort of jumping off this one branch to the next. One of her back paws slipped and Stella held back a yelp. In her gizzard(or marrow), she knew she could do this. Stella kept telling herself that she wasn't an owlet anymore.

At her pace, it really took until sunset when the last drop of the Lavender sky fell. She silently thanked Glaux for making owls nocturnal. Of all the other branches, Stella made no effort but kept slipping. At last, she came upon her last branch( which was 2 feet from the ground.) Stella breathed slowly and steadily balanced her paws then her tail. She closed her eyes and let her dreams of noble owls glide in her mind.

The wolf opened them and jumped on the last of the branches smoothly. She yipped in excitement, but Stella checked again to see if she was all right. Stella looked down 2 feet from the ground. She embraced herself and made sure her tail and paws were steady with balance.

First, Stella gazed up at the sky to see the sun setting high up in the air. She was always curious on why Firulf( the owl constellation of the Western Skies) was in the same exact place as the Sun. The wolf erected her ears and nose then pushed her legs off the branch. To her astonishment, her legs and paws held no strain.

She was still standing on fore-paws then she looked around. Stella took three steps away from the tree and sniffed her surroundings. It had been month since being in that treacherous blizzard.

Stella panicked a little from the memory of her past. She kept reminding herself that she was not coward and that she could put the past behind her. To her surprise, the ground had more grass and dirt than she remembered. Stella clawed the grass and dirt with one swipe then looked to see if there was snow.

In all her life, Stella had never seen grass or dirt. She was amazed that there were insects and different types of birds. She wandered through the long grass along Lent's tree and sniffed the dirt to test. Luckily, she out that the grass and the dirt carried a musty scent. Stella sniffed the floor again and detected a juicy but strange odor. Then she shoved her ears forward and heard beats and soft thumps. Something in her gizzard stirred to life, the tendency of that life-pumping artery creature made her lose control of her body.

Never once in her life did she hunt, or was taught to because she bent low to the ground. The wolf bent lower than before on the grassy plain and steadily placed each paw forward to the scent. Her gaze was set on what looked like a bush rustling. Stella's mouth was getting watery, but she ignored the fact for she was only few lengths from it.

Suddenly as soon as she came close, her skipped a beat when the jackrabbit dashed out in a flash. As quick as lightning, Stella jumped in the air then she soared in the wind current and landed back on all fours; but she didn't stop. She trekked fast through every inch of that forest. The rabbit was just upon her: which looked as if he was not giving in. Stella muscles were not yet tired, but she stopped and turned away. As soon as she was four lengths away, the rabbit stopped and started chewing on a piece of shrub.

Then Stella turned toward a thick piece of the forest and dashed around the rabbit's right. Before the rabbit could get away, Stella pounced on the rabbit and bit into the life artery. When that was finished, she was about to eat into the carcass, but something inside her told her to do the ritual. She didn't know the name of it, but she did it anyway. She gazed into the jackrabbit's eyes and said," May your life sustain me." And by that moment a flash of light from the eyes said," I will climb to my heaven for I have lived till I grew older. I will sustain you."

As soon as that was over, the wolf hungrily chowed down in the corpse. The blood of the rabbit was better than any of the small shrew's. Her kind( which she didn't know much of) would have saved a morsel for one another, but Stella didn't know much of clan or pack life. When the bones and meat were all done, Stella lifted her head up where the West Point star was. The star was in one of the eyes of Firulf, for he was the watching owl and her gizzard told her to follow.

She prayed up to where Glaux should be( the North) and howled to the Sun:

_Guide me to where my gizzard tells,_

_Where I might find of the wolves' tales,_

_Please bring the light of the moon,_

_And of the stars of an eery loom,_

_And constellations of every point,_

_Bring me to the path of the Western Point star,O' Glaux,_

_May my memories of Earth last eternally_

The song of the prayer ended, but it rang through her mind and she simply went fast to sleep at dawn.


	8. Finding Stella

Lent was wondering still of how to put Stella on the ground-safely. He didn't notice that Stella was already gone and left him. A smart owl would have kept a hard watch on that juvenile wolf, but Lent was a busy thinker. It doesn't mean that he was dumb or anything, he just was a thinker from birth. Bubo(his ryb), was of course always tedious and impatient when Lent had a thought of an idea. It took mostly two nights for Lent to think. All the owls called him " Lent the Thinker", which never abused the Snowy.

Lent was really strange to most other owls because of his sense of speech and skill. He never had a flint mop once in his life, but he was scolded a time or two. So why didn't Lent become a normal blacksmith? It was mostly because of the war and Bubo's strange behavior. To cut it short it, Bubo's gizzard evaporated from a fleck that was in Bubo's food.

It was not deliberately Lent's fault, but the King Soren had to cast him out to the Beaks( a treacherous territory of the Western Kingdoms). When, he was retracing back to his thoughts of Stella, he melted some stone down. He quickly placed it in his furnace and extracted the metal down. Then, once he was finish of that process he hammered the metal to make the down edges more sharper than talons.

This took until the black sky's last drop faded into lavender. The battle claw was made and Lent fitted the weapon on his talon. Then he took out leather and hardened it but not to hard. He measured the leather around his ankle and then set it back down. Lent took his hole puncher and punched three holes into it to make a buckle. He took off the battle claw then carefully placed the strap around inside. Finally, his work was over and Lent yawned. It had been a long day of figuring out and working on a weapon.

The sun had shone, so Lent perched and slept. He dozed off before he noticed that Stella wasn't getting ready for sleep. It had taken him forever to wake up, he was ecstatic when that wolf didn't say anything. The Snowy Owl remembered that the Great Horned Owl didn't tell him that he was leaving to go back to the blacksmith base.

Lent was beginning to screech in anger, but he held it back and flew out of his forge. He desperately strained to hear where his adopted daughter could be. Sometimes, the Snowy wished that he could have the keen sense of hearing of a Barn Owl. But when he was just about to fly he heard a song of which he couldn't understand. He knew it was a wolf since of the howls it made. The owl was confused for there were no wolves in this part of the Western Kingdoms. So he guessed it could be a lost wolf or his daughter. The thought of it being a lone wolf made Lent want to wilf. He didn't want to be killed by sharp fangs that could crunch on his bones. But he knew he never taught his daughter how to howl, but the song of that wolf was more beautiful. It was more beautiful than the outclanners of the Outermost.

The strange thing was that the howl was sounding out near the West Point of where Firulf the owl constellation was. So the owl took flight and tilted toward that point. He looked at what was down below him. The sight was very distant, but a Snowy Owl could see anything from Ga'hoole to the Beyond. Soon, he saw a black speck in the bleak woods and to Lent's guess it was Stella.

He locked in his wings and bolted through the sky. As soon as he near the trees, he spread his wings apart and spread his talons straight out. It looked as if he was going to catch a vole, but he soon landed on a tree that was so prickly that it could have been a Pine Tree. The object straight ahead was a bundle of black fur: Stella. The Snowy Owl lightly landed on the ground( since owls were silent flyers). Lent peered at the wolf's closed eyes and carefully used his index toe to open Stella's eyes.

The wolf jerked a little but dozed on and Lent felt a little surprised. Suddenly there came a sniff then another. Last, there came a snarl and Lent stepped back a step. Stella laid her ears back then curled her ears and her fur stood on end at Lent, and opened her eyes to slits. The owl wasn't used to wolves being angry, even of Stella. Stella was muttering something more wolfish than he had ever heard.

Lent looked into the eyes of his wolf daughter. Once he had seen a fun, loving pup, now he saw a savage, devilish adult. He breathed slowly and said softly," Stella, it's me, your Da. Don't you remember the time I rescued you?" The only answer came was a growl-like reply, so Lent went on," You are a clean wolf, Stella. I have never taught you ways of the outclanners. You have every right to either be a modest wolf or a wise owl. Please let Glaux get this new horrible self of you destroyed."

After he said "Glaux", the juvenile wolf stopped muttering and her fur laid back. She tug in her tail and gridded her belly in the grass then showed her belly said," I am sorry, Da. I have failed to be your daughter. Let me be your gnaw wolf and I shall grovel in the dirt for you. Most of all, I have failed Glaux and Lupus."

Lent became shocked of Stella's behavior and was confused on "gnaw wolf" and "Lupus". Stella stopped her groveling and picked out a bone from the rabbit. Her strange behavior was getting more strange and Lent said reluctantly," Stella, you are really making a fool of yourself. Can you stop talking such nonsense and be the same little owlet to me?"

Stella dropped her bone right in between them and said," Da, I have been doing what I always do. Lupus has sent me to scroll on this bone for the new Great Chain. I have looked upon the Cave of Souls, I have learned my chance as a lone wolf as a raghnaid. I must go to the Beyond the Beyond then to the Distant Blue. I will set up new names of the constellations of the East."

"I think we need to get you home, Stella. No wonder the Beaks had changed you into a strange owl. The Beaks is a treacherous place and it has once been the base for the Pure Ones." So without a word, both Lent and strangely weird Stella both went back to Lent's forge.


	9. Meeting in a Dream

The thought of getting Stella up puzzled both of them. Lent knew Stella was more heavier than he was. And Stella knew wolves couldn't fly up to that hollow- or even climb. How could she even jump two feet in the air, anyway? If she could jump off a branch then make it; Stella could maybe make a running start and jump as high as she could.

She remembered that Lupus gave Faolan strength to leap to the sun. Although her owl father never told her about Faolan, Stella could somehow know of that great wolf. It seemed like she remembered him and his friends before. Lent was thinking-as normal. He looked around the mountain side and at his tree. He had never seen Stella jump off branches, so he thought it couldn't work. Stella looked to where Lent was staring at and said," Da, it might work."

Lent just shook his head and protested," No, it won't work. It is natural for the Watch Wolves, but no ordinary wolf c-" Stella pounced on Lent's wings and shot back," Owls might fly, but who says a wolf can't do it." Lent seemed not too impressed on Stella's roughness. So, he said," I'm not judging you. It's just that you never first learned branching."

"Can to."

"How?"

Stella sat down and grinned then said," When I left the forge." The owl seemed awestruck when Stella acted casual. Lent concentrated hard on his thoughts of not let his gizzard turn wilf. He really didn't like it once his gizzard is agitated or afraid. The reason why he hated it, it made him remember the time of the War of the Ember.

"You don't have to be afraid, Da. I know owls do that sort of thing all the time." Lent was about to open his mouth before Stella said," I can see you never told me that. But can we please get up to that tree." So, Stella walked near the side of the sharp tavern. Lent was almost beginning to wilf if Stella went to the top- where very few owls make it.

After that, the black wolf looked at the branch from a five lengths and sped at full speed on her target. She reached two lengths and soared through the air. Then, Stella retracted her claws and landed neatly on that branch. Lent flew to where she was at and said," Very good, young'un! I am sorry of saying you couldn't do it."

Stella simply said," Da, you don't need to apologize. I'm fine that you didn't know about it." She jumped up again the branch above her and did it majestically through each branch. Both Lent and Stella were before the hollow and Lent was happy to be back. They both spent a wild adventure together. Lent didn't want to go on one ever again, but Stella still had that trip in her mind.

They were both very tired, so Lent was lucky that Stella was not going to travel yet. Tween time was almost arriving. The wolf curled up beside her father and the owl was dreamlessly thinking of Stella's past. As soon as the sun was up, Lent was having a dream and it seemed so real. Stella was there, but her pelt was slowly transforming into a gray, raggedy pelt. Then her eyes were changing to different colors: one green and one amber eye. The amber eye was becoming uncontrollably spinning and Lent didn't exactly know who this she-wolf is. The wolf looked at Lent and said," I was planning to meet you, Rogue Smith of the Beaks. I am the Sark of the Slough, I died on my broken memory jars not too long ago. And don't do the yarpie-baripes on me.

"Also, I wanted to ask you if Gwynneth is okay. She was the Masked Owl who went with Faolan and Edme." Lent knew half of what the Sark said, but was astounded to hear such an owl phrase come from a wolf. He did know that Stella used owl phrases, since she had lived with him.

So he said," The Sark, I-" The wolf cut him off," Call me, miss. Gwynneth and her father, Gwyndor had called me that more often." So Lent restarted," Miss, I have no idea how to get to Gwynneth. I have never flew far in my life." The Sark surprised Lent and shouted," You can, frinken fool! I might be some wolf to you, but I know a thing or two about where they had gone. They have told me to come with them on the journey to the Distant Blue. I was dying at the time and I chose to lay on the shards of my pots in the Slough. You should try to go there and see if my friends are okay. Now do it, or this wolf will be in an unhappy state!"

After that, the dream faded and soon the sun went down. Stella was awake and made Lent remember what he almost forgot. He still remembered his dream and his task. Lent guessed that they should go on the trip together and also thought of the Sark coming in his dream as a scroom. So he said to Stella," We shall have to go on the journey together." The wolf took time to realize that her father just said the great words. She was in a ecstatic mood and pounced on Lent's chest. Then she said," When?"

"Now." came a faint, gasping voice from Lent. So, the wolf let the owl breathe and went out the hollow.


End file.
